THE HUNGRY VEGGIE

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Only himself and myself eat Christmas Cake, so I no longer make the lovely large one I used to make. This one does instead; it's a souped-up version of my Rum Brack. A non-vegan version can be made of course - substitutes in receipe.

- Soak the fruit, sugar, rum/whiskey and tea in a bowl - leave until cold
- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Grease and line the bottom of an 8" round tin (I used a 2lb loaf tin, this time)
- Add the melted marg to the fruit mix. Stir through.
- Add the beaten egg. Stir through.
- Sieve flour, then fold in the flour, bread soda and spice
- Scrape/pour mixture into the lined tin
- Bake for 55 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean
- Cool in the tin for 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack.
- Peel off paper when cool
- Wrap cake in greaseproof and store in a tin
- Prick cake with a cocktail stick and feed with a more rum/brandy once a week (if the cake lasts that long!)
- We're not marzipan or icing fans but vegan versions of both are available :)

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

High days and holy days, it seems, are the only times I drop by here. Despite the fact I bake EVERY Tuesday for The Great British Bake Off. Too much to do, too little time, my friends. Anyway, the new twist on my brack is rum. And it's yum! It came about because the heroine of my next novel, Becoming Belle (out Aug. 2018) eats rum cake with her father and I wanted to make it for Christmas. Hallowe'en seemed as good a time as any to try it.

I'm reducing wheat at the mo due to that stomach thing I picked up in China last year, so I've used a mixture of rice and spelt flour, but you can use any flour.

A bench, by night, on the grounds of Belle's Galway home,
Garbally Park, Ballinasloe

- Soak the fruit, sugar, rum and tea in a bowl - leave until cold
- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Grease and line the bottom of an 8" round tin (I used a 2lb loaf tin, this time)
- Add the melted marg to the fruit mix. Stir through.
- Add the beaten egg. Stir through.
- Sieve then fold in the flour, bread soda and spice
- Pour into the lined tin (insert wrapped coin or ring at this point, if using)
- Bake for 55 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean
- Cool in the tin for 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack.

Friday, March 17, 2017

I only had one egg left when I went to make buns today, so I had to find a recipe that needed just one egg. I flicked through my books and found a Snickers and Peanut Butter Mufffins recipe in Nigella's Domestic Goddess. I don't keep Snickers bars about my person, but I always have dark choc chips to hand for baking, hence the change. I also halved Nigella's recipe, to make buns rather than muffins, but it only yielded nine buns. Anyway! Here we go:

I used my Orla Kiely bowl for the day that's in it

Peanut
butter & choc chip buns

INGREDIENTS

125g
plain flour

3
tablespoons caster sugar

3/4
tablespoon baking powder

pinch of
salt

3
tablespoons peanut butter

30g
butter, melted

1 egg,
beaten

90ml milk

50g dark
choc chips

METHOD

·Preheat
oven to 200˚C

·Line
a 12-space bun tin (my mix made 9 buns)

·Throw
all the dry ingredients into a bowl, mix

·Add
the peanut butter and mix until you have a breadcrumby texture

·Add
the melted butter and egg to the milk and stir gently into the bowl

·Mix
in the chocolate chips

·Plop
the mixture into the bun cases using two spoons

·Bake
for 20 - 25 minutes, until golden on top and firm to the (light) touch

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Well, last year I didn't even bother making a cake which felt wrong. The problem is the three kids don't eat Xmas cake so it's only me and himself. Anyway, I decided to make a small cake this year, so here it is. (It's my teabrack with a bit of zhuzsh.) I should mention we are not icing and/or marzipan fans here but both are easily procured or made. We cut the cake today and it's boozy and yum. Happy Advent!

Soaked fruit

With the egg and marg mixed through

Teeny brandy :)

INGREDIENTS

150ml tea

50ml brandy (plus more for dousing later)

grated rind of one orange

200g dried fruit (candied fruit, glace cherries, sultanas, raisins)

100g stoned dates, sliced in half

100g brown sugar

1 beaten
egg

50g melted marg

255g wholegrain spelt flour

1 tsp bread soda

1 tsp mixed spice

flaked almonds to top (optional)

METHOD

- Soak the fruit, rind, sugar, brandy and tea
in a bowl - leave overnight or for at least 4 hours

- Preheat the oven to 180C

- Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin
(ready-made liners are great and very little greasing needed!)

- Add melted
marg to the fruit mix. Stir through.

- Add beaten egg. Stir through.

- Sieve in the flour, bread soda
and spice

- Place mixture into the lined tin and flatten out the top

- Sprinkle with a handful of flaked almonds (if using)

- Bake for one hour, until a
skewer comes out clean

- Cool in the tin for 10 mins
then turn onto a wire rack.

- Once cool, make holes with a skewer and pour on a few tsps of brandy

- Wrap in greaseproof paper, then tinfoil and store in an airtight tin.

- Douse with a few tsps of brandy, bottom and top of cake alternately, at one week intervals, until you want to eat it.

Sunday, September 25, 2016

I am at the end of a rewrite of novel #4, Becoming Belle, and I have, as usual, got my heroine eating her way through the plot. Early in the novel, Belle's domineering mother (in an off-page moment of sweetness) makes an Eve's Pudding for Belle and her two sisters to enjoy while their parents are dining with the regiment. So, naturally, I had to make one and try it for myself :) It's research.

The cooking apples with lemon juice and sugar mixed in

I used Bramley apples because they're the best ones for this recipe. But, also, because when I was in England in August, doing final on-the-ground research for the book, we drove through the pretty village of Bramley in Surrey.

A fine Bramley (or 'Brailsford' ;))

However, it turns out Bramley apples actually originated in Nottinghamshire and were named after a butcher called Matthew Bramley. But! The apple tree was planted by a girl called Mary Ann Brailsford - Mr Bramley bought the cottage and garden where she planted her tree. So, we should be making our Eve's Pud with Brailsfords, really :)

The apples with the batter poured on

After all that, I made the pudding today for my husband's birthday, we had it with custard, and it was delicious. The apples stew together and are nicely tart-sweet, and the flaked almonds give bite.

INGREDIENTS

Filling:

3 Bramley cooking apples (peeled, cored and thinly sliced)

75g brown sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Sponge topping:

150g self-raising flour

75g butter or marg (room temp)

75g caster sugar

1 egg (beaten)

100ml milk

A handful of flaked almonds (optional)

METHOD:

Pre-heat oven to 180˚C

Grease an ovenproof dish.

Mix the Bramleys with the granulated sugar and lemon juice.

Spoon the apple mixture into the prepared dish.

In a bowl, beat together the flour, butter, caster sugar, egg and milk to a batter with a soft dropping consistency.

Spread this over the apples and sprinkle with the flaked almonds, if used.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C, bottom shelf, for 45 minutes or until sponge is golden brown.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

We have been having fab weather in Ireland which means several things: holiday atmosphere prevails and eating salad is less of a chore. We're going on a picnic today with our County Offaly friends so I made a halloumi pasta salad to bring. I sampled it (natch) and it's delicious. And a really fast and simple make. I love the chargrilled halloumi in The Cedar Tree in Dublin (I dream about it) but I had a salad like this at a friend's house a couple of years ago and have been planning to make it since. At last I get around to it.

METHOD
- Cook the pasta for about 10 minutes (until it's al dente), adding the glug of olive oil and a pinch of salt at the start
- While the pasta is on, cut the halloumi into 1cm thick slices and fry on a medium heat for about 2 mins each side (it may go golden)
- Let the halloumi cool on two sheets of of kitchen roll, pat excess oil off
- Drain the pasta and leave to cool
- When the pasta is cold, mix through the quartered tomatoes, chopped basil and garlic
- Cut the halloumi pieces into quarters and mix though the pasta
- Season with salt and pepper and mix through
- Serve with green leaves, bean salad, buttered Margaret's Loaf, red wine or anything you fancy.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

We were going to the Alice film on Saturday but first we decided to drop into the craft village at Ballinahown in Co. Offaly. The crafts area wasn't open but the tearoom was so, naturally, we had to sample their fare. I had a gorgeous berry scone, the husband had carrot cake and Junior enjoyed a blueberry muffin with ice cream. Everything very fresh and nicely presented on vintage-ish china. There's also a lovely woodland playground in the village, perfect for reading the morning papers.

About Me

Nuala Ní Chonchúir was born in Dublin, Ireland; she lives in East Galway. Her third novel, Miss Emily, published under the name Nuala O'Connor, is out now from Penguin USA, Penguin Canada and Sandstone Press (UK).